Please donate to the legal defense fund to help release those arrested in Ferguson protests standing for Justice for Mike Brown!

Since the killing of Mike Brown, dozens of people have been arrested by the Ferguson police for participating in protests. This legal defense fund has been set up to support all people currently in jail.

All people, regardless of their charges, have a right to legal representation. We know that currently public defenders are overworked. If you are a lawyer and are interested in doing support for those arrested, please email join@organizemo.org. If you are interested in helping with jail support as a volunteer, please email join@organizemo.org. If you know people who are currently in jail, also please email join@organizemo.org.

According to the law, each person is innocent until proven otherwise; however, this is not how the system plays out on a day-to-day basis, particularly for communities of color. Mike Brown’s murder is only the most recent reminder that the United States criminal justice system is at war with many of our communities. We see daily that the criminal justice system impacts people of color much more severely than white people -- in 2012 alone, 313 Black men and women were extrajudicially killed by police, security guards, and vigilantes.

These deaths are also part of a broader system of exploitation and injustice under the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC), which has led to the exponential growth of the United States inmate population and the influence of private prison corporations that make enormous profits off of the backs of people of color. Because of the PIC, the United States houses nearly 25% of the entire world’s prisoners, 60% of whom are people of color.

One small way that we can fight the PIC is to assert the right of every individual, regardless of the crime, to proper legal representation and due process. No matter where you are, this is an immediate and tangible way that you can stand for justice for Mike Brown and support the members of the Ferguson community. We cannot afford to wait until this happens again. Help us take collective action now.

This fund is set up through Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment (MORE), a community group in St. Louis. All funds are being used for jail support.